Disciples Adopt the “Provisional Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)​”

“During the 1950s and 1960s the Disciples of Christ held a number of discussions on how to more effectively meet the needs of the postwar era. In 1960 at their International Convention of Christian Churches, the Disciples adopted a process to restructure the entire church. The Commission on Restructure held its first meeting in the fall of 1962. Six years later at the 1968 International Convention, the cooperative Christian Churches adopted a provisional design for their organization and missions, officially becoming the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Those congregations that chose not to be associated with the new denominational organization separated from the Disciples and took the name Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, completing a departure that had begun decades before.

The Disciples adopted the Commission of Restructure’s “Provisional Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at the 1968 International Convention, and the design was implemented in 1969, at the first General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). With this act, the Disciples became a denominational part of mainstream American Protestantism.” (Disciples of Christ Historical Society.)

“NBA was now officially the Division of Social and Health Services of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and NBA ministries were channeling efforts and resources into ‘new wineskins’ – adjusting to meet the changing needs of the areas they served, restructuring to provide more skilled care, and researching to keep abreast of the most helpful and economical service it could provide.” (Inasmuch, p145.)

When General Minister and President Sharon E. Watkins would speak at NBA’s office dedication in June 2014, she would also celebrate NBA’s “new wine” and “new wineskins.”